MacTech Blog

Apple has won two patents from the US Patent & Trademark Office involving tags on mobile devices.

Patent number 20120062758 involves the relative positioning of devices based on captured images of tags and seems to involve the Places feature of iPhoto.

The patent is directed to determining the relative position of several devices by capturing representations of the device environments in which a tag is located. The devices can compare the captured representations to determine a perspective of the tag corresponding to each device. In some cases, a device can determine an absolute position relative to a coordinate system integrated in a tag. Using the positioning information, several devices can receive directions to come together at a particular meeting point. In some cases, several devices can operate an application that requires the interaction of several users of the devices (e.g., multi-player games).

Apple has been granted a patent (number 2012006068) by the US Patent & Trademark Office for a graphical user interface for music sequence programming.

Here's Apple's background and summary of the invention: "If a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) user desires to create a musical pattern such as a complex drum pattern they can utilize MIDI programming and/or arranging audio loops. However, utilizing MIDI programming and/or arranging audio loops requires in-depth expertise in MIDI and audio editing, as well as some musical background including knowledge of complex rhythms to achieve musically pleasing results where all elements of a sequence fit together.

"Therefore users, particularly novice users, can benefit from a method and system for presenting a graphical user interface that allow a user to quickly program a musical sequence without music sequence programming expertise where all elements of the sequence fit together musically. Furthermore, experienced...

Now that Apple has unveiled the new iPad, concerns continue to mount over the influx of mobile devices converging on the corporate network: namely whether companies have formal bring-your-own-device (BYOD) programs that can handle the increased demand for bandwidth.

Brocade (http://www.brocade.com/index.page) -- a company that offers "network solutions that help the world’s leading organizations transition smoothly to a virtualized world where applications and information can reside anywhere" -- has revealed the results of a survey of 120 IT decision-makers, which found that:

° Almost 40% of respondents indicated that employees use mobile devices to access their corporate networks regardless of an official bring-your-own-device policy.

° More than 30% of decision-makers expect traffic on their networks to increase as a direct result of the iPad 3.

An Apple patent (number 8135891) for a method and system for transferring button status info between a media player and accessory has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

Here's Apple's background and summary of the invention: "The present invention relates generally to electrical devices and more particularly to electrical devices such as media players that communicate with accessory devices.

"A media player stores media assets, such as audio tracks or photos that can be played or displayed on the media player. One example of a media player is the iPod media player, which is available from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Often, a media player acquires its media assets from a host computer that serves to enable a user to manage media assets. As an example, the host computer can execute a media management application to manage media assets. One example of a media management application is iTunes, version 6.0, produced by Apple Inc.

Apple has been granted a patent (number 8135865) by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for synchronizing and transferring digital media items.

One or more media items are received, from a network operating environment, at a first device. A first media database on the first device, including metadata associated with the media items, is synchronized with a second media database on a second device.

The one or more media items are moved from the first device to the second device. The one or more media items are copied from the second device to the first device.

Here's Apple's background and summary of the invention: "The subject matter of this specification relates generally to digital media distribution services. In recent years, electronic online distribution of media items, such as music and movies, have become popular.

A new report from Juniper Research (http://www.juniperresearch.com) finds that growing user satisfaction with mobile TV on tablets will push average monthly viewing times to 186 minutes per month in 2014. I expect the new iPad will increase that amount even more.

The report, "Mobile TV: Applications, Devices and Opportunities 2012-2016," finds that as users become more accustomed to viewing content on tablets such as the iPad, and as a wider range of content becomes available on tablets, consumers will increase their viewing times. This increase will be most apparent in North America where there is already significant mobile TV usage, and where internet TV services such as Hulu and Netflix are popular.

Juniper Research says a tablet is the ideal device on which to consume mobile TV content -- their large screen sizes and intuitive user interfaces allow almost everyone to browse for...

Do you suffer from nomophobia, the fear of being without your iPhone? Apparently, lots of folks do.

First identified in 2008, it would appear nomophobia -- the fear of being out of mobile phone contact, is sharply increasing in the UK. A recent survey of 1,000 people in employment, conducted using OnePoll, discovered two-thirds of respondents fear losing or being without their mobile phone.

The study, sponsored by SecurEnvoy (http://www.securenvoy.com) -- which specializes in tokenless, two-factor authentication -- reveals that 41% of people interviewed, in an effort to stay connected, have two phones or more. When asked if they’d be upset if a partner looked at the messages and texts on their phone almost half said that they would.

Digging a little deeper, more women worry about losing their phones than men -- 70% of the women surveyed compared to 61% of the men. Yet it is men that are...

At Wednesday's media event announcing the iPad HD and the new Apple TV, Apple CEO Tim Cook touted the "post-PC" era. He says that Apple's line of iDevices (iPods, iPhones and iPads) has sold 172 million units and now comprise 76% of its total revenue.

But don't take that as a death knell for the Mac. The computer still accounts for 24% of the revenue -- and 24% of Apple's income is a LOT of moolah.

That said, expect to see the Mac get more iDevice-ish in the months ahead. Apple doubtless plans to lure all those iPhone/iPad lovers to the company's computer platform.

A new patent (number 20120057297) at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office show that Apple continues to work on ways to make its OS X and iOS devices run cooler. The patent involves heat dissipation in a computer device. More particularly, the invention relates to arrangements for protecting key components of the computing device.

Per the patent, the computing device includes a shock mount assembly that is configured to provide impact absorption to sensitive components such as a display and an optical disk drive. The computing device also includes an enclosureless optical disk drive that is housed by an enclosure and other structures of the computing device.

The computing device further includes a heat transfer system that removes heat from a heat producing element of the computing device. The heat transfer system is configured to thermally couple the heat producing element to a structural member of the computing device so as to sink heat through the structural...

Apple wants you to get in shape, it seems. A patent (number 20120060118) for a portable media device with workout support has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

Improved techniques and systems for utilizing a portable electronic device to monitor, process, present and manage data captured by a remote sensor are disclosed. The portable electronic device offers a convenient user interface that can be visual and/or audio based customized to a particular application, user-friendly and/or dynamic. The portable electronic device can pertain to a portable media player and thus also provide media playback.

The invention relates to improved techniques and systems for utilizing a portable electronic device to monitor, process, present and manage data captured by a remote sensor. Apple says it can be implemented in numerous ways, including as a method, system, device, apparatus (including a graphical user interface), or computer readable medium.

It took me a long time to get onto Apple's online store and order a new iPad, but the trouble was worth it. The new Apple tablet looks to be incredible.

By the way, Apple calls it the new iPad. But what's its official moniker? The iPad 3? The iPad HD? The New iPad? I like "iPad HD," so that's what I'm going with until I see Apple officially calling it something else.

I do wish that Apple offered a 128GB version. Or at least an iPad with an expansion slot. We also didn't get the haptic display technology that some folks were predicting. But I wasn't expecting it. Of course, for the iPad 4, who knows?

The advance buzz on the iPad HD has been great. This is from "CNET": Neither the newest MacBook Air nor new Intel ultraportable laptops can boast that kind of display resolution and none offer a standard model with built-in broadband--and certainly not the LTE variety of 4G, which is considered the most promising. Even on the chip front -- considered a big...

An Apple patent (number 20120056716) for a system and method for situational locational relevant speed reference has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. The invention relates generally to location dependent delivery of information to mobile data processing systems, and more particularly to a system for pushing situational location dependent content to data processing system devices traveling to locations for, or in directions of, that place which delivery content is designated as deliverable.

Situational location dependent information is transmitted from a server data processing system to a receiving data processing system. The server data processing system communicates with the receiving data processing system in a manner by pushing content when appropriate. A candidate delivery event associated with a current positional attribute of the receiving data processing system is recognized and a situational location of the remote data processing system is...

Three Apple patents have popped up that show that Apple is working on ways to further improve the cameras on its iOS devices.

Patent number 20120057073 is for scene-aware, automatic exposure control. Per the patent, scene-aware auto-exposure control process stabilizes changes in a camera's auto-exposure settings so as to reduce lighting and color flicker during image capture operations. A metric, referred to as the Modified Adjusted Luminance (MAL) metric, is defined to remain relatively constant as long as the lighting of the scene being captured remains relatively constant.

Thus, scene changes such as an object moving into, out of, or around in a scene do not significantly affect the MAL metric's value and do not, therefore, trigger an exposure adjustment. Once the MAL metric indicates a scene's lighting is stable, the camera's auto-exposure operation may be suppressed. As long as incoming frames indicate a stable lighting condition (based on the...

Apple will hold a special media event today at 10 am (Pacific). I (and the rest of the world) will be shocked if Apple doesn't introduce the iPad 3 (or will it be called the iPad HD?). I'm also expecting a new Apple TV (an update of the set-box box, not the rumored "iTV").

So what can we can expect from the iPad 3? Almost certainly a QXGA (1536 x 2048 pixel) display that exceeds the resolution of 1080p content. I'm also predicting a quad-core CPU with graphics performance exponentially faster than that of the iPad 2. Also good for better built-in cameras and support for Siri, Apple's voice-activated "the intelligent personal assistant" that debuted with the iPhone 4S.

I'm less sure whether the iPad 3 will offer support for 4G LTE connectivity; however, I'm going out on a limb and saying "yes, it will." I'm pretty sure Apple has 4G LTE lined up for iPhone 5 later this year; I think the company's tablet will get it now.

An Apple patent (number 8132197) for mounting objects on a turntable has turned up at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It relates relate generally to computing systems and more particularly to an optical disc drive (ODD) and shows that Apple wants to make such drives smaller in its Macs -- assuming, of course, it does do away with them completely anytime soon.

The embodiments in the patent describe an apparatus and method for a reduced Z stack slot loading optical disc drive (ODD). In one embodiment, an optical disc mounting assembly can be used to chuck an optical disc to a turntable. The optical disc mounting assembly can include a hub spring for spring loading a hub and a clamping mechanism pivotally connected to the hub.

In the described embodiment, in an extended position, the clamp is used to secure the optical disc to the turntable. The clamping mechanism can include a clamp pivotally attached to the hub at a pivot point. In the absence of the optical...

Apple has been granted several patents by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Among them are the following:

Patent number 8131645 is for a system and method for processing media gifts -- as in Apple's various app stores. Various techniques are provided for the gifting between multiple electronic devices of media content provided by an online digital media provider. An offer and acceptance of a selected gift file is accomplished between a gifter device and a receiving giftee device using a near-field communication (NFC) connection.

If a connection to the online provider is available, the gifter device may transmit a gift request by which the gifter's account is charged for the gift file. Thereafter, a gift file created using DRM keys associated with the giftee's account may be downloaded to the giftee device. If a network connection is unavailable, the giftee device may transfer a locked gift file and a corresponding gift license to the giftee...

I'm still dubious of rumors of a 14-inch MacBook Air for the Asian market (see http://macte.ch/5ybfW), but Apple has the chance to sell a LOT of laptops (as well as iPads and iMacs) in China in the days ahead.

According to the latest data from NPD DisplaySearch (http://www.displaysearch.com), the rapid growth of the China computer market is driven by the mobile computer segment, which includes notebooks, mini-notes, and tablets. Total computer shipments in the second half of reached 53.4 million, up 12.7% from the first half of the year.

China is the largest market for desktops and related displays (monitors or displays in all-in-ones), the number three market for tablet computers, and the number four market for notebooks and mini-notebooks. For the computer market as a whole, China is three, behind North America and EMEA [...

I'm a telecommuter -- and let me tell you that it's great. Great for me, my family and the environment (I use little gas). Evidently, lots of folks would love to be telecommuting, as well.

TeamViewer (http://www.teamviewer.com), a provider of remote control and online meetings software, has announced the findings of its survey of over 2,500 American adults aged 18 and older, conducted online by Harris Interactive in January.

The survey, which was drafted based on TeamViewer’s experience in remote access to the workplace, found that most Americans believe that more people want the option to telecommute (62%) with an overwhelming percentage (83%) believing that telecommuting is on the rise. Specifically, the survey found that Americans believe:

° Smartphones and tablets are increasing the use of telecommuting -- 53%;

More good news for the iPad and the iPhone (especially if a 4G version of the latter is coming, as many predict): when it comes to technology, small businesses continue to ratchet up their use of emerging wireless solutions, including tablet computers, 4G devices, and GPS navigation mobile apps. This according to the just-released "2012 AT&T Small Business Technology Poll" (http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=22312).

More specifically, the national survey of small businesses revealed the following:
General Wireless Technologies:

° Nearly all small businesses (96%) surveyed use wireless technologies in their operations, with almost two-thirds (63%) indicating that they could not survive -- or it would be a major challenge to survive -- without wireless technologies.

° More than four in 10 (43%) small businesses surveyed report all of their...

The Spy has become a cautious adopter rather than an early one. As the reader of this space well knows, he has been unwilling (and unable) to upgrade from Excel 2004 because of his very heavy dependance on macros, which the 2008 version lacked. This in turn meant that he could not use Lion, as 2004 would not run at all in that environment.

Nor was he willing to convert all those macros to one of the open source competitors, even though VBA is a textbook example of how not to design a language, if for no other reasons than its complete lack of orthogonality and wretched documentation. The 2011 version has been out some time now, with the macro facility restored, and this has to be run on an Intel system, of which he has two (out of nine total). Since his main spreadsheet file is production bookkeeping software, harbours mission critical data, and he's had little time for experimentation, the process of certifying 2011 for this purpose...

Two Apple patents at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office show how Apple is working on letting you control, structure and organize your digital content across various devices, iCloud and the iTune Store.

Patent number 201200543679 is for a menuing structure for favorite media content. Technologies for generating a menu of favorite media items for presentation to a user are described. In one aspect, input from a user designating a show as a favorite show is received. In response to receiving the input, show information relating to the favorite show is displayed in a first graphical user interface.

The show information includes a plurality of shortcuts, each shortcut pointing to a corresponding episode of the favorite show, and indicia displayed concurrently with the shortcuts to mark unwatched episodes. In response to receiving the input, a pointer associated with the favorite show is displayed in a second graphical user interface. The pointer...

Apple has won three patents from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office involving delivery of digital content -- and ways to recommend digital content on Apple online stores.

Patent number 20120054302 involves location context for content delivery. The selection of invitational content to deliver to a user can be influenced by the user's current location. Periodically, the content delivery system prioritizes the invitational content that is eligible for delivery to the user based on information about the user and the user's interactions with items of invitational content. Upon resolving a location associated with the user's device, the content delivery system re-prioritizes the invitational content.

The re-prioritization can be based on the user's assignment to spatial-temporal segments or the user's proximity to predefined landmarks. An item is then selected from the re-prioritized invitational content and delivered to the user. The inventors are...

An Apple patent (number 20120050307) for an ambient light sensing technique has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and shows that Apple is working on ways to control characteristics of electronic devices -- such as laptops and iPhones-- based on ambient light levels.

In one embodiment, the method includes receiving light at an ambient light sensor of a device and measuring components, such as color components, of the visible light. The component levels may be weighted differently by factors that vary based on the intensity of the light received by the ambient light sensor.

Also, the brightness level of a light source in the device or color output of the device may be controlled based on the weighted component levels. Additional methods, systems, and devices relating to control of an electronic device based on sensed ambient light are also disclosed. Peter H. Mahowald and Ulrich T. Barnhoefer are the inventors.

Apple has been granted a patent (number 20120050012) for adaptive media content scrubbing on a remote device -- in other words, iMovie for iOS devices. The patent also hints at upcoming features of the software.

Systems and techniques are disclosed for controlling, from a mobile device, media content stored on the mobile device to a media client for presentation on a display device. Data can be provided from the mobile device to the media client for identifying the location of the media content and a playback time. Based on the data, the media client can obtain a portion of the media content associated with the playback time. Also, playback of the media content on the display device can be controlled by a user of the mobile device. The inventors are Thomas Matthieu Alsina, Bob Bradley, Alan Cannistraro, Scott Forstall, Amandeep Jawa, Nicholas V. King, Lucas Newman, Daniel Trent Preston, Jai Chulani and Jeffrey Robbin.

The latest poll results from Broadbandgenie.co.uk -- an independent broadband, mobile broadband and smartphone comparison website -- have revealed that just 8% of respondents intend to "definitely" buy a budget tablet in 2012. I would image most folks are saving their money for the iPad 3, which I suspect will go on sale in March.

The poll asked, 'Will you buy a tablet or iPad in 2012?' Of more than 1,000 respondents, more than half either weren't interested at all or already owned a tablet. Some 16.5% answered "maybe," while 17.5% intended to buy a top end tablet. Again, think iPad 3.

The result will be seen as another blow for makers of low-end Android tablets and cheaper models from other brands -- particularly BlackBerry, which has just released an upgrade for its heavily discounted PlayBook tablet.

"While Apple is going great guns at the top-end with its iPads, very little is happening of interest at the budget price point as yet," Broadband Genie editor...

Rumors are swirling that a new Apple TV (the set-top box, not an Apple-branded HDTV) will roll out next month along with the iPad 3. I think those rumors are correct and that the revved Apple TV will finally offer 1080p high definition video.

And it would be just in time. Wireless high-definition (HD) video technologies are the next frontier in consumer electronic (CE) connectivity, streaming uncompressed 1080p high-definition video across the living room. The category is comprised of three technologies: wireless home digital interface (WHDI), WirelessHD, and Wireless Gigabit (WiGig).

The earliest applications for wireless HD video technologies were centered around the CE [consumer electronics] cluster and were used primarily as HDMI cable replacement. Today it has evolved into the computer cluster connecting mobile computers to DTVs. Significant future use will likely be for connecting mobile devices to digital televisions (DTVs). New NPD In-Stat (...

Among several Apple patents granted today by the U.S Patent & Trademark Office one of the most interesting is for an integrated speaker assembly for a personal media device. It involves an external multi-speaker system. Though the patent was filed in 2007, Apple has released no such system -- at least not yet.

Systems and methods are provided for media devices including a housing, a frame disposed adjacent to the housing, and an acoustic source that is integrated with the frame for emitting sound from the media device. The inventors are Richard Hung Minh Dinh, Tang Yew Tan and Derek Boyd Barrentine.

The potential for the rumored Apple-branded HDTV (the "iTV") and a television-enabled iMac seems to be ripe. A new report from the Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com) says Internet television is growing faster than most folks realize.

Internet television is a new form of television service that is delivered over the internet to TV sets and other devices such as computers, smartphones and tablets.
By 2016, there will be over 480 million "smart TVs" deployed across the globe, all of which connected to the Internet, according to Research and Markets. And that's not counting the around 100 million more that will be connected by other devices, such as games consoles, Blu-ray players and dedicated boxes.

It will have taken the cable, satellite and IPTV (Telco) TV industries over 60 years to build in excess of 500 major broadcast television networks that can...

Last week a Southern California judge awarded US$850 to an iPhone user because AT&T Inc. reduced his download speeds in an attempt to manage usage on its network. Pro-tem Judge Russell Nadel found in favor of Matt Spaccarelli in Ventura Superior Court in Simi Valley. Spaccarelli filed a small claims case against AT&T last month, arguing the communications giant unfairly slows speeds on his iPhone 4's unlimited data plan.

This article is intended to provide information on how to file a small claims lawsuit. It is NOT intended to offer any legal advice -- and none is offered. If you would like more details on small claims or other legal issues, please consult with an attorney.

If you own a smart phone, and many of us do, you probably enjoy the features that involve data streaming. From surfing the web and texting to video streaming, the applications for data streaming are virtually endless. Some users have data plans...

Stand back. There's no telling how big this iPad thing can get. A new report from Juniper Research (http://www.juniperresearch.com) finds that annual revenues from consumer mobile applications will approach US$52 billion by 2016 as consumer smartphone adoption accelerates in tandem with the emergence of a mass tablet market.

While smartphones will continue to comprise the majority of app revenues over the forecast period, the report noted that tablets -- which currently account for just 7% of global app revenues -- would comprise 25% of such revenues by 2016. And the iPad is far and away the top dog in the tablet market.

Juniper's report observed that the app store model’s pre-eminence faced the prospect of erosion in the longer term as HTML5 -- a markup language which reduces end-user dependence on plug-in app technologies -- facilitates the transition to a browser-based environment....

I'm a telecommuter -- and let me tell you that it's great. Great for me, my family and the environment (I use little gas). Evidently, lots of folks would love to be telecommuting, as well.

TeamViewer (http://www.teamviewer.com), a provider of remote control and online meetings software, has announced the findings of its survey of over 2,500 American adults aged 18 and older, conducted online by Harris Interactive in January.

The survey, which was drafted based on TeamViewer’s experience in remote access to the workplace, found that most Americans believe that more people want the option to telecommute (62%) with an overwhelming percentage (83%) believing that telecommuting is on the rise. Specifically, the survey found that Americans believe:

° Smartphones and tablets are increasing the use of telecommuting -- 53%;

I think cloud computing has a great deal of potential. However, I'm not ready to trust all -- or even most -- of my data to the "cloud."

However, members of IEEE (http://www.ieee.org) -- a technical professional association -- are working to deliver on the promise of cloud computing by helping enterprises of all sizes address the barriers that can potentially reduce the adoption rates of this game-changing technology.

IEEE says prospective benefits of cloud-based systems are hard to ignore: significant cost reductions in the operations and maintenance of the IT infrastructure; extreme scalability and accessibility; fewer concerns about overloading servers or lack of storage space; and rapid deployment. Of course, challenges and perceived risks prevail, with lingering concerns about cloud security and privacy, performance unpredictability, and if the ultimate return on investment makes cloud adoption a fit...

An Apple patent (number 20120043191) for a single support keyboard mechanism at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office shows that the company is working on new, thinner keyboard for its portable Macs -- and perhaps desktop Macs, as well.

A keyboard mechanism for a low-travel keyboard and methods of fabrication are described. The low-travel keyboard is suitable for a thin-profile computing device, such as a laptop computer, netbook computer, desktop computer, etc. The keyboard includes a key cap that can be formed of a variety of materials in the form of a flat slab. The key cap is attached to one end of a support lever that supports it from underneath. In one embodiment, the support lever is formed of a rigid material and is pivotally coupled with a substrate on the other end.

In another embodiment, the support lever is formed of a flexible material and is fixedly attached to the substrate on the other end. The portion of the support lever that is attached to the...

According to patent number 20120046780, Apple is working on ways to improve the microphones in its various devices. The invention involves a composite microphone boot has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It relates to consumer electronic devices and more particularly, methods and apparatus for providing microphone capabilities for consumer electronic devices.

A microphone assembly for an electronic device is described. The microphone assembly can include a microphone, a microphone boot and a printed circuit board. The microphone boot can be a composite microphone boot that is formed from multiple materials. A hardness of the each of the materials used in the microphone boot can be selected to improve sealing integrity and reduce shock transmission. In one embodiment, the composite microphone boot can be formed using a double-shot injection molding process. The inventors are Fletcher R. Rothkopf, Phillip M. Hobson, Adam Mittleman and Anna-Katrina Shedlesky...

An Apple patent (number 20120046040) for a location-based profile has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It relates generally to location-based data processing on a mobile device.

Methods, program products, and systems implementing location-based profiles are disclosed. A location-determination subsystem can determine a location of a mobile device. A monitoring subsystem of the mobile device can be configured, using a profile (e.g., default configuration profile), to monitor states of a wireless connection between the mobile device and a communications network. When the monitoring subsystem detects an interruption of the wireless connection, a virtual geofence can be constructed around the location of the mobile device when the interruption occurred.

The geofence can indicate a boundary of an enclosed geographic area. The geofence can be associated with a diagnostics profile for controlling the collection of diagnostic data the mobile device. The...

"9to5Mac" (http://macte.ch/dXs6P) says Apple is preparing its first iTunes Store redesign in nearly three years. The new design will purportedly be simpler and more user-friendly than the current design.

Apple is working on ways to enhance the speed and efficiency of finding new content, such as songs, videos, and applications, according to "9to5Mac." iTunes itself could also use some overhauling. Perhaps Apple will offer a new version that reflects the OS X counterparts in iOS, which do make more sense.

Last year MobileTrax (http://www.mobiletrax.com) analyst Gerry Purdy wrote an open letter to new Apple CEO Tim Cook, recommending that Apple change the name of iTunes to iMedia since they sell TV shows, movies and more, not only music.

That makes sense. But I think an even better idea would be to break iTunes into...

In my never-ending quest to come up with new features for the 27-inch iMac -- and you're welcome, Tim Cook -- which is one of my two favorite Macs, I had this thought: what about an Aereo chip in iMac?

According to "The New York Times" (http://macte.ch/UMOWa) an online television company called Aereo (https://aereo.com) has come up with a way to stream local television stations to paying subscribers on the Internet, "potentially forming a new cord-cutting threat for cable and satellite distributors." The company recently unveiled the service, and it will go live in New York City only (for now) in March for US$12 per month.

Aereo will stream all programming of the major networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC) and will include an Internet-powered digital video recorder. No cable or satellite channels are offered. However, the service will only work as long...

Two Apple patents have appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office that hint that Apple is at least investigating touch screen Macs. For example, patent number 8118274 is a support mechanism for supporting an object on a surface is disclosed.

The support mechanism includes a joint connected to the object; and a stand connected to the joint. The joint may selectively rotate to allow the stand to support the object on the surface in: a first position comprising a landscape orientation at a first angle between the object and the surface, a second position comprising a landscape orientation at a second angle between the object and the surface, a third position comprising a portrait orientation at a third angle between the object and the surface, and a fourth position comprising a portrait orientation at a fourth angle between the object and the surface. The inventors are Stephen R. McClure and Joshua D. Banko.

I've had a few days to cull through all the info on Mac OS X 10.8 ("Mountain Lion") and play around with the Messages beta. Here are some preliminary thoughts.

AirPlay Mirroring

One of the features of Mountain Lion I'm really looking forward to is AirPlay Mirroring, which lets you stream what’s on your Mac to your HDTV via an Apple TV.

Right now the only product I know of that can do this is the MacTivia (see our review at http://macte.ch/ksZpI). And as far as I know, this is the first time the concept of streaming computer content has been built right into an operating system.

Being able to view my Mac's content on my HDTV will be very convenient. Heck, I've ripped many of my DVDs to my Mac's hard drive. Now I can play them on my Mac and view them on my large screen TV.

AirPlay Mirroring on the Mac may be bad news for the makers of the MacTivia. However, it could...

Cozi (http://www.cozi.com/), an online and mobile family calendar and organizer, recently surveyed American families on smartphone usage and must-have apps. The entire family agrees on their most-loved smartphone apps: Facebook, Pandora and Angry Birds were in the top five for moms, dads and children alike.

That may be the one similarity they share, as they differ in many of the ways they use their phones. When it comes to choosing apps and smartphones, moms tend to be more social. Cozi’s survey of nearly 2,000 parents showed that moms are more likely than dads (65% vs. 58%) to get app information from their friends, and twice as likely as dads (10% vs. 5%) to say a friend’s recommendation was the most important factor in choosing a smartphone.

Moms were also more than twice as likely as dads (19% vs. 8%) to say Facebook was the activity they do most on their smartphones. This doesn’t mean dads aren’t...

More data suggests that this is the time for Apple to make a move into the television market (with the rumored "iTV"), as well as roll out the hoped-for iMac with TV functionality (see http://macte.ch/34WZQ).

Americans spend more than 33 hours per week watching video across various screens, according to the latest "Nielsen Cross-Platform Report" (http://www.nielsen.com). But how they’re consuming content -- traditional TV and otherwise -- is changing.

Demonstrating that consumers are increasingly making Internet connectivity a priority, 75.3% pay for broadband Internet (up from 70.9% last year); 90.4% pay for cable, telephone company-provided TV or satellite. Homes with both paid TV and broadband increased 5.5% since last year.

Changes are coming, however, as consumers seek out the entertainment option that makes the most sense...

Apple has been granted a patent (number 20120042174) for a remote container. Apparently, it involves the company's iCloud service.

Methods, program products, and systems implementing remote container techniques are disclosed. A relational database can include a container data field, which can be a data field for storing multimedia data. In one aspect, when the multimedia data are inserted into the container field, the multimedia data can be stored in one or more remote database files. The remote database files can be located separately from other data of the relational database and remotely from a client computer accessing the relational database. Corresponding data structures, or remote containers, can be configured to store metadata of the database files.

References to the remote containers can be stored as values of the container data field. Using various encryption techniques, the remote database files can be given same access restrictions as access restrictions...

An Apple patent (number 20120042028) for methods and systems for managing to-do items or notes and electronic messages has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

Methods and systems for managing to-do items and/or notes and/or emails (or other electronic messages) are described. A record, such as a To do item, in a database maintained locally by the data processing system is encoded into metadata. The metadata is sent as a false email message by an email client application executing on the data processing system to a remote email message server.

An email client application executing on a remote processing system accesses the email message server and receives the false email message containing the metadata. The remote client application then either converts the metadata back into a database record editable at the remote processing system or presents a non-editable view of the database record, for example as an incoming email message. The inventors are...

A handful of Apple patents involving population segmentation have appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. They relate to electronic content delivery and, more specifically, to intelligent targeting of invitational content to a user based on user characteristics.

Patent number 20120042253 involves population segmentation. Per the invention, segments used to select content to be targeted to a user are recursively refined based on continuously derived user characteristics. Based on information gathered from new requests for targeted content and/or user interaction with previously delivered content the user is assigned to one or additional candidate segments.

The candidate segments can be used to select content to be delivered to the user based on the user's assignment to the targeted segments. Accordingly, each user is grouped into one or more targeted segments and based on the user's inclusion in those segments, requests for targeted...

There seems to be no end to the sales potential of the iPad. A new customer survey conducted by B2B daily deals service RapidBuyr (http://www.RapidBuyr.com) has found that mobile technologies and travel deals top the list of purchases that small business owners plan to make in the coming year.

Not surprisingly, tablet computers, like the iPad, appear to be in high demand, with 49%t saying they intend to purchase one in the next six to 12 months. In addition, 44% plan to buy mobile phones, which can only be good news for the iPhone.

Perhaps related to the mobile demand, travel services also top the list of planned expenditures, with 62% of respondents planning air travel, while 55% will need hotel rooms. Restaurants and rental car services also show strong demand, at 38% and 34%, respectively.

"These results underscore just how important having access to the latest technology can be for...

John Gruber at "Daring Fireball" (http://www.daringfireball.net) points out that Safari’s "hovering-over-a-link pointing-finger" cursor looks a little different in Mac OS X 10.7.3 and could hint at "retina display" Macs in the near future. I'd love to see that happen, though I'm a bit dubious.

Noting that several icons and images have gotten the "high-DPI treatment in 10.7.3," Gruber says that "the simplest explanation is that Apple only just now got around to increasing the resolution of these elements for the benefit of users who use the cursor-zooming Universal Access feature."

True, but, as he notes, "combined with the fact that some people with Mac minis connected to TVs via HDMI are reporting that after upgrading to 10.7.3, their system rebooted in HiDPI mode, I can’t help but wonder whether we may be on the cusp of Apple releasing HiDPI Mac displays and/or HiDPI MacBooks. I.e.:...

An Apple patent (number 8117228) at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office shows how the company intends to offer head-to-head comparisons of products at its online stores.

The invention provides a comparison of a set of similar items includes: receiving from a first member of an online community a selection of a stored prior comparison created by another online community member of a set of similar items; providing to the first member a template for the comparison, the template being at least partially pre-populated using data from the stored prior comparison created by the other online community member; and receiving from the first member a submission of the comparison, wherein the comparison includes one or more modifications as made by the first member to the template. The inventors are Kenneth N. Chang, David A. Koski, Pedraum R. Pardehpoosh and Ralph E. Zuzula.

Here's Apple's background on the invention: "In the context of online stores, a user or potential...

A patent (number 8117038) at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office shows that Apple continues to work on an universal container for audio data. It relates generally to digital audio and, more specifically, to a universal container for audio data.

Storing audio data encoded in any of a plurality of different audio encoding formats is enabled by parametrically defining the underlying format in which the audio data is encoded, in audio format and packet table chunks. A flag can be used to manage storage of the size of the audio data portion of the file, such that premature termination of an audio recording session does not result in an unreadable corrupted file.

This capability can be enabled by initially setting the flag to a value that does not correspond to a valid audio data size and that indicates that the last chunk in the file contains the audio data. State information for the audio data, to effectively denote a version of the file, and a dependency indicator...

As evidenced by a new patent (number 8116586) at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, Apple is working on further ways to improve the camera abilities of various iOS devices.

The patent involves estimating and removing distortion from an image. Some embodiments provide a method of editing images with distortion caused by a camera lens. The method identifies a set of geometries on a set of images taken by the camera lens. The method finds transformations for applying on the set of identified geometries to remove distortion on the geometries.

The method applies the transformations to images taken by the camera lens to remove distortions. In some embodiments the identified geometries are curvilinear lines that correspond to straight lines in the scene being captured by the lens. Some embodiments provide a method of matching distortion for adding graphical objects to images. The method first removes the distortion on the images as described above. The method then adds...

Note to assorted guys and gals: if your main squeeze is a piece of technology, please re-evaluate your life.

Apparently, some of us have waaaaaay too much affection for gadgets such as the iPhone and iPad. Asurion (http://www.asurion.com), which specializes in technology protection services, says its national survey results show that nearly 30% of survey participants believe their cell phone is more helpful to them than their significant other.

Reasons frequently given by the 3,000 survey respondents include that the cell phone is more entertaining than their significant other, they appreciate that the cell phone has an off button and that the device never talks back.

"While the content of the communications might vary wildly among users, there's no doubt mobile devices are now the primary way people stay in touch with...

Software Updates via MacUpdate

SpamSieve 2.9.27 - Robust spam filter fo...

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VueScan 9.5.62 - Scanner software with a...

VueScan is a scanning program that works with most high-quality flatbed and film scanners to produce scans that have excellent color fidelity and color balance. VueScan is easy to use, and has... Read more

Fantastical 2.3.2 - Create calendar even...

Fantastical 2 is the Mac calendar you'll actually enjoy using. Creating an event with Fantastical is quick, easy, and fun:
Open Fantastical with a single click or keystroke
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PCalc 4.4.4 - Full-featured scientific c...

PCalc is a full-featured, scriptable scientific calculator with support for hexadecimal, octal, and binary calculations, as well as an RPN mode, programmable functions, and an extensive set of unit... Read more

Alfred 3.2.1 - Quick launcher for apps a...

Alfred is an award-winning productivity application for OS X. Alfred saves you time when you search for files online or on your Mac. Be more productive with hotkeys, keywords, and file actions at... Read more

OmniPlan 3.6 - Robust project management...

With OmniPlan, you can create logical, manageable project plans with Gantt charts, schedules, summaries, milestones, and critical paths. Break down the tasks needed to make your project a success,... Read more

Backblaze 4.2.0.990 - Online backup serv...

Backblaze is an online backup service designed from the ground-up for the Mac. With unlimited storage available for $5 per month, as well as a free 15-day trial, peace of mind is within reach with... Read more

AppDelete 4.3.1 - $7.99

AppDelete is an uninstaller that will remove not only applications but also widgets, preference panes, plugins, and screensavers along with their associated files. Without AppDelete these associated... Read more

Apple GarageBand 10.1.4 - Complete recor...

The new GarageBand is a whole music creation studio right inside your Mac -- complete with keyboard, synths, orchestral and percussion instruments, presets for guitar and voice, an entirely... Read more

Adobe Lightroom 6.8 - Import, develop, a...

Adobe Lightroom is available as part of Adobe Creative Cloud for as little as $9.99/month bundled with Photoshop CC as part of the photography package. Lightroom 6 is also available for purchase as a... Read more

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PINE GROVE 1.0
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Category: Games
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Niantic teases new Pokémon announcement...

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3 reasons why Nicki Minaj: The Empire is...

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Clash of Clans is getting its own animat...

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Leaks hint at Pokémon GO and Starbucks C...

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DietSensor, Inc., a developer of smart food and nutrition applications designed to fight diabetes and obesity and help improve overall fitness, has announced the launch of its DietSensor app for... Read more

Best Buy has dropped their price on the 64GB Apple TV to $159.99 including free shipping. That’s $40 off MSRP.
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12-inch Retina MacBooks, Apple refurbished, n...

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Apple has Certified Refurbished 13″ MacBook Airs available starting at $849. An Apple one-year warranty is included with each MacBook, and shipping is free:
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Apple refurbished iMacs available for up to $...

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Apple’s Education discount saves up to $300 o...

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